A bill to delay ratepayer-funded subsidies to two financially struggling Ohio nuclear plants cleared a key committee by a thread on Wednesday, setting up a possible floor vote before Christmas.
The House Energy Policy and Oversight Committee voted 8-7 on Wednesday to send House Bill 798 to the House Rules Committee, which on Thursday was to determine whether to allow a floor vote for the legislation.
HB 798, would delay by a year the rate increases scheduled to go into effect in January under the controversial House Bill 6 — a law at the center of a massive bribery scandal that led to the ouster of the Ohio House speaker, who allegedly accepted payment in exchange for drafting the bill and shepherding it through the legislature, and the president of FirstEnergy Corp., which controlled the struggling nuclear reactors through a former subsidiary.
The Ohio general Assembly’s current emergency session was scheduled to end today, and the Ohio Senate had yet to consider HB 798. Still, the legislature has reserved Dec. 22 for any last-minute votes.
Introduced by Ohio Rep Jim Hoops (R), HB 798 would delay the HB 6 subsidies for at least a year, beginning in mid-March 2021. During that time, an annual third-party audit conducted by a firm hired by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio would determine whether the reactors really need the subsidies to remain financially solvent.
So, even if the bill does pass at the last minute, ratepayers will still be on the hook for the extra payments for almost three months, starting Jan. 1.
“This has been a very passionate and interesting issue,” Hoops said yesterday during webcast proceedings.
